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Motivation….(again)

Have you ever noticed how you always seem to find the most random stuff in the processes of moving?

Today, I uncovered something that I have not sat down and read in a long time. I found a letter today that was saved on the deep dark corners of my external hard drive (100% truth, there isn’t some sort of blogging pun in there).

To get some of the backstory for this article, read my post “Gotta Have Faith.” This is the letter that the mother published in the local newspaper (Republican, Springfield MA). I have removed the names of the patients and family for privacy.

Mother has reason to be grateful

Saturday, December 23, 2006

By SUZANNE McLAUGHLIN

smclaughlin@repub.com

HAMPDEN – <PT’s MOTHERS NAME & ADDRESS> has a special reason to be grateful this Christmas.

Her 2-year-old son, <PT NAME>, is alive because three Springfield police officers put their lives on the line for him last summer.

“He has the most beautiful face,” Crane said of her son. “If you see him, you will just want to squeeze his face.”

The toddler was playing in the yard of the family’s home on Oak Hollow Road in Springfield last summer and came up behind the ride-on lawnmower being driven by his father, <PT FATHER>.

When the brake failed to catch, the tractor rolled backward, severely injuring the boy’s legs.

The boy was rushed to Baystate Medical Center by three Springfield police officers.

Due to the severity of the child’s injuries, police decided not to wait for an ambulance, Springfield Police Capt. Robert T. McFarlin said.

Officers Thomas Michel and Clayton Roberson placed him in a cruiser and drove to Sumner Avenue and Allen Street where they transferred him to the ambulance that had responded to the call.

Police Sgt. Paul Browne then drove the ambulance so two paramedics could administer care to the boy.

Michel and Roberson escorted the ambulance in their cruiser. Other officers blocked every intersection en route to Interstate 91 for the ambulance to race unimpeded to the hospital.

“They were going at speeds of 120 miles per hour,” Crane said. “Because of the police officers’ precision decision-making and because they took a risk for my son, my son is here.”

Crane said she also would like to thank the two emergency medical technicians who cared for her son in the ambulance, Ryan Anderson and Hiram Rodriguez.

An emergency room doctor told police if the boy had reached the hospital a minute or two later, he would not have survived because of severe blood loss, Lt. Cheryl Clapprood said.

The toddler is in a brace and has additional surgeries to undergo because he injured the growth plate in his leg, but he is up and walking, his mother said.

“He is here with us, and we are thankful,” she said.

She said she wrote a poem because she did not know how to thank the police officers.

“You never thought once/ Your own life could have been sacrificed/ You’re angels from God that saved not only a boy, but a family’s lives/ And we wish the merriest of Christmases to you.”

It was a great little motivator that reminded me of why I got into EMS…and continues to do so today.

Ryan Anderson

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‎"A good peace, a solid peace, a peace in which communities can flourish, can only be built when we ask ourselves and each other to be MORE than just good, and better than just strong."
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